Duels are the little brother of tournaments, but they're much more common in Westeros. The Seven just love showing their justice through swordplay, and that in a country filled with swordfighting men. How convenient of them. My decisions behind creating these rules are to keep everything kind of simple. I don't want to get into character skills, stats, and stuff like that, because I feel like it creates the wrong impulses and leads to character simplifications.

So without further ado, the rules for fighting duels.

#Duels

Two duelists fight armoured on the ground using a melee weapon and a shield. They compete by each rolling 1d20. The higher of the two duelists’ rolls is subtracted from the lower of the two, and the subsequent difference will determine the outcome of the round. Pre-existing bonuses or maluses are applied to both sides. Any negative modifiers stack upon each other.

Before a duel, it must be decided whether or not blunt weapons are used and whether or not it is to first blood or to the death. It should also be determined whether or not duelists are allowed to forfeit. With blunt weapons or first blood, duelists can still get knocked out and suffer serious injuries or even death. However, the winner in a duel can decide to “hold back” so the loser does not have to make an injury roll, but such duels do not contribute to bonuses.

##Bonuses and Maluses

With how common duels are, characters can gain individual bonuses to how they perform in duels. Only primary characters can have dueling bonuses. They are gained from experience. Bonuses do not stack, only the highest one the character qualifies for applies.

Unlike bonuses, maluses stack. Age maluses also apply, see under injuries and penalties.

This series of dev diaries will showcase the mechanics and rules for AegonsConquest while we pass the time waiting for the first season. Today I am introducing the tournament rules which we'll be using, for which I must largely credit /u/Servalarian from over on /r/EmpirePowers. Tournaments are a very important activity in Westeros. They are serious competitions, and also dangerous.

#Structure The way in which tournaments will be done with regards to the means of participation is what is modernly known as a “Round Robin” style of competition. Participants will be split into groups of between 3-4 individuals, depending on the size of the tournament.

Within each group, each jouster will go against one another once, being scored on their performances. A win by dismounting is worth 3 points, a win by lance-breaking or default is worth 2, a draw is worth one, and a loss is worth 0 points.

At the end of the Round Robin, depending on the size, a predetermined number of participants will go against each other in a bracket system to determine the overall winner.

• If the tourney has five or less participants, there will be no finale. The highest scoring participant will win.
• If the tourney has between 6 and 9 participants, the top 2 will go against one another in a Finale. The scoring will be by number of points,
• If the tourney has between 10 and 15 participants, the top 4 will enter into a bracket, seeded by number of points, with ties being decided by number of unhorsings, and if those are tied, then seeding will be randomly decided.
• If a tourney has between 16 and 23 participants, the top 8 will enter into a bracket, seeded by number of points, with ties being decided by number of unhorsings, and if those are tied, then seeding will be randomly decided.
• If a tourney has more than 24 participants, the top 16 participants will participate in a bracket, seeded by number of points, with ties being decided by number of unhorsings, and if those are tied, then seeding will be randomly decided.

#Jousting Two jousters compete by each rolling 1d20. The higher of the two jouster’s rolls is subtracted from the lower of the two, and the subsequent difference will determine the outcome of the round. Pre-existing bonuses or maluses are applied to both sides. Any negative modifiers stack upon each other.

Jousts are won by unhorsing your opponent, breaking two lances, or your opponent retiring. Draws can occur, provided both parties reach their two broken lance quota simultaneously, or seven rounds are completed without an outright winner. A participant will retire if they have received four strong hits (lance breaks are considered strong hits) over a bout, or if a combination of five hits of ANY KIND is reached. Competitors will continue to joust until:

• A competitor is dismounted
• Two lances are broken
• A competitor retires
• Seven Rounds are Completed

After the end of Seven Rounds, the competitor with the most lance breaks is considered the winner. If the amount of lance breaks are even, then the bout will be considered a draw. On the event of a tie during a knockout bracket, the lady of the occasions shall decide who advances.

For example:

Round 1: Jouster A rolls a 12, and Jouster B rolls a 16. Jouster B gets a minor hit on Jouster A due to a difference of 4. Jouster A will now have a -1 modifier for the rest of their match.

Round 2: Jouster A rolls an 18 (-1) and Jouster B rolls a 4. Jouster A breaks their lance on Jouster B, due to a difference of 13, after modifiers are applied.

Round 3: Jouster A rolls a 1 (-1), and Jouster B rolls a 19 (-3). Jouster B unhorses Jouster A. Jouster B wins this bout.

##Unhorsing & Related Injuries If a character is unhorsed they may undergo a roll to see if they sustain an injury. The roll will be a d20 on the following table.

If the pre-modifier rolls that caused the dismount were 20 vs 1, roll a d12 rather than a d20, with the same outcomes as the above table.

If the knight obtains a minor injury, their injury rolls over to their next Bout as a -2 to all rolls. If they obtain a major injury, they are considered to be unfit for competition, and will be forced to retire from the tournament.

If a character rolls a critical injury the type of injury will be rolled on the following table, using a d10.

##Bonuses A joust victory in a tournament of at least 8 competitors will grant a +1 on the base roll in future jousts, capped at +4. Participating in multiple tournaments can also give a bonus, meaning a max of +1 after participating in 6 tournaments. These bonuses do stack, meaning that if you have participated in six tournaments, and won four, you maintain a +5 to all future tournaments that you participate in.

##Age Maluses As is well known and documented, age has significant impacts on impacting the ability of an individual to compete in athletic competition. Of course, it’s not as bad as traditional sports that we know and love today with regards to age and ability. Nevertheless, any time a roll is undertaken, these will be applied to the roll to ensure that ageing is taken into account.

#The Squire’s Melee The Squires’ Melee is a free for all. A 1d50 is rolled for every participant per round: the lowest rolling character is eliminated by the highest rolling character. Characters receive a -10 malus for every year younger than 12 (so a 10 y/o gets a -20). 1 point is awared for an elimination. Points for finishing order are as follows:

• 10th and 9th: 0 pts.
• 8th-3rd: 1-6 pts respectively.
• 2nd is 8 pts.
• 1st is 10 pts.

Blunted steel is used. If the difference between the loser of a round’s result and the second lowest roll result is 10 or more, they sustain a minor injury. 20 or more, a major injury, and 40 or more, a critical injury. In the final 3 rounds, these thresholds are instead 20, 40 and 60.

For example It is the 2nd round and there are 9 participants remaining. Character A is 11 years old. His roll result is 22, minus 10, for a result of 12. This is the lowest result in the round, so Character A is eliminated. Character B is 17 years old and his roll result is 33. This is the second lowest roll result. The difference between 33 and 12 is 21, so Character A suffers a major injury.

That's all for now, next time, a look at the food economy in the Seven Kingdoms!

We are currently in the planning stages of season 1 of Aegon's Conquest. Because our game masters/moderators are also involved with running /r/EmpirePowers, a conceptually similar game set in 1500s Europe, we expect to launch the inaugural season of Aegon's Conquest after the next /r/EmpirePowers season ends. Thank you for your understanding.

Meanwhile, if the game has garnered your interest, feel free to join the Discord to be in the know when we release updates or to get a notification when we will start the game.

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